Indian tourists among 15 killed as speedboat capsizes in Vietnam
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- A speedboat carrying 32 Indian tourists and four crew overturned about 400 metres from Hon May Rut Ngoai island in the Gulf of Thailand on Saturday, killing at least 15 people in rough sea conditions
- Nearby tourist vessels rushed to the rescue, pulling 21 survivors from the water, though many passengers were found trapped inside the capsized boat, according to VnExpress
- Nguyen Tien Hai, a senior Communist official in the region, blamed the capsize on heavy winds and high waves and said authorities were still working to confirm exact death toll and survivor counts
- PM Narendra Modi said he was "extremely saddened" by the accident, offering condolences to the families of victims and prayers for survivors' recovery in a post on X
- The Indian embassy in Vietnam published the full list of the 32 Indian nationals aboard and set up telephone hotlines to assist affected families
- Hon May Rut Ngoai, a tiny island in the An Thoi Archipelago about 10km south of Vietnam's largest island Phu Quoc, is a popular island-hopping tourist destination
Why it matters: With at least 15 of 36 people aboard killed, this is one of the deadliest recent tourist-boat disasters in southern Vietnam, where island-hopping tours around Phu Quoc draw large foreign crowds. Modi's personal statement and the embassy's emergency hotlines underscore that the casualty count is overwhelmingly Indian, while Vietnamese authorities are still verifying the final toll and investigating the cause.
